The American Petroleum Institute plans to make drilling for oil and the Keystone XL pipeline top-tier campaign issues in 2012, announcing today it will spend an undisclosed amount on its “Vote 4 Energy” campaign. API will target multiple states including Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia to achieve its wish list for the year, which includes drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. To kick off its campaign, API President Jack Gerard discussed the pipeline as a political issue at API’s annual event Wednesday:

Gerard’s comments Wednesday marked the latest attempt by proponents of the pipeline to pressure Obama to approve the project … The push by Republicans and the oil industry highlights the increasingly aggressive messaging war over the pipeline, which poses huge political risks – and potential rewards – for both the GOP and the White House.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace responded with a website parodying the API “I Vote” campaign, based on the knowledge of activists who uncovered API’s astroturfing to make commercials for the Vote 4 Energy campaign. API’s multistate pro-oil campaign has already begun in Washington, D.C., where a metro stop used by congressional staff was wallpapered with “facts” courtesy of the friends of oil.